Main menu

The universe is ever-evolving, and so are we. Our Instructor Keith Cowley is is launching a unified initiative combining his teachings of mind, body and environment. Work with him one-on-one this Autumn, or book a workshop to share the embodiment experience!

Keith Cowley will be offering 1-on-1 Embodiment classes and Embodiment Clinics, and also booking workshops for the Fall/Winter seasons. Inquire about his Personal Circle Method series and Wilderness Counseling.

Instructed by Keith Cowley, Founder of Personal Circle Embodiment Clinic and New-Native Foundation. His classes integrate mind, body and environment through moving meditation and New-Native philosophy. He is the author of Presence, and Environmental Connection.

After a hiatus, Personal Circle’s Founding Instructor Keith Cowley will be offering his Embodiment Clinic and Personal Circle classes in downtown Westerly at the new Studio 4 on High Street. Visit the Calendar page to find out how to schedule.

Personal Circle™ is a universal foundational training system, based upon an autodidactic process of submission to self and environment by way of circular analysis, therein an integral method of moving meditation. Our philosophy (“Body is teacher, Nature is preacher”) involves embodiment of subtlety through dichotomous refinement with awareness and acceptance of Oneness. Personal Circle was created through an autodidactic process of submission focused on our “sacred 3″ principles of Structure (posture, shapes, symmetry) Breath, and Intention. Efficient exploration of our dynamic biological boundaries affords us the experiences that build our confidence to transcend the physical systems in creative and environmentally useful ways. The Personal Circle system is inspired by many cultural practices, however ultimately coalesced by way of a dedicated submissive personal practice and daily application by its founder Keith M. Cowley. It is non-martial and non-lineage based. It adopts universal/cosmological and scientific language and guidance through biological geometry.

Embodiment Clinic™ is our method for teaching the foundational Personal Circle principles to the general public in a 1-on-1 setting. Embodiment Clinics are only guided by a Personal Circle Embodiment Clinician. A Clinic session includes 1/3 postural alignment signalling (seated and standing), 1/3 postural shape testing, and 1/3 partnered application practice. While there are obvious therapeutic benefits to the Clinic, “clinic” is also a term used for “a conference or short course on a particular subject”. “Embodiment” involves internal and external awareness of environment and potential purposeful application within it. The session enables a setting for real-time evidence-based application experience of the efficient principles. Therein, the benefits of Personal Circle practices are provided by the clients themselves as made aware by a trained Embodiment Clinician.

Embodiment Clinic is a complete system based upon Personal Circle’s foundational training, developed by Keith Cowley. Using Nature’s principles to recalibrate the body and mind, breath and posture work, combined with a flowing partnered-practice, discover how to acknowledge “body as teacher”. Learn how to embody your experience, on and off the mat, through simplistic philosophy and drills for daily refinement.

As we toe onto our mats or nestle into our meditative nooks, our first consideration is our sense of place. Regardless if we believe that our practice should take us to a complex realm outside our own or a simply a plane of peace, the locale we choose to consciously look inward can make a difference in how effectively we apply our experience in the world.

After all, it’s about integration, right?

Consider this. Maybe there is reason we create the human structures we do. As we “evolve” beyond an industrial age into a technological age, our buildings are getting taller, our corners closer, our lines more accurate. What if this advancement in architectural information is improving upon a global conversation about primal geometry? What if every interpersonal dialogue we share is a reflection of what we have come to learn of this conversation and our role in it?

Now that’s something to think deeply about. However our time in meditation is not always about thinking deeply. Instead, let’s open up to the flow and allow the conversation in:

So we align our posture to sit, stand, or asana quietly, and a conversation emerges. The body begins to shake (vibration is symmetrical action) and give way to the skeletal positioning, enabling relaxed respiration. Symbiotically, the breath facilitates the process, providing a rhythmic constant (another symmetrical expansion and contraction action). The area we have designated for our practice reflects a quadrant of confidence. We believe that as we press through our spines we can trust our footings, or the seat-spaces beneath us. You’ve chosen this space for that reason. A safe and somehow familiar ground. Perhaps the rectangular mat with predictable 90 degree angles sets the mind at ease. Maybe since we aligned our mat with another line in the room,(or another mat) it feels less chaotic. Is it strange that the mat reflects the dimensional characteristics of a doorway? All around our space we can observe doorways and walls, created with definitive symmetry. If we are centered in this room, does the symmetry reflect our own? Does it affect us? What does it mean?

What we do know is that our bodies are affected by the balancing act of gravity and levity on our equilibrium. So that’s one way our environment directly influences us. Also, our ability to navigate a dark space versus a lit space is a direct effect on our psyche. Open spaces versus tight spaces, liquid spaces versus solid spaces, simple patterns versus complex patterns, all affect our psyche. Of course the psyche influences our equilibrium since we build neural and muscular holding patterns in our bodies that disrupt bilateral (two-sided) symmetry and our ideal alignment. So at the foundational levels we are forever influenced by our environment. However these are all restorative prompts that may be meant to assist in our refinement as human beings.

I have come to believe that anything I experience in my environment is meant for me, as a reflection of me, for the sake of refinement. Many years of seated and standing posture training for long durations of time made me aware of this possibility. So, how much control can we have over our environment if it is a gift of knowledge? I believe we have no control over it. I train myself to make peace with this “fact”. My actions have influence, but return to me as balanced by my environment. The environment knows what it needs. So let’s forget about applying direct meaning to our environment’s signals. Instead, we’ll put faith in the possibility that the reflections are meant for us, and we can align to the lessons. Now we are aware of the process. Involved. That makes us part of the global conversation.

Now aware, we choose another space for our practice. I ask myself questions like, “Am I attracted to any specific symmetries of this environment? How do I invite them in to my body to influence the healing process in my internal environment? Can I recreate the structural symmetry I see?” We recondition ourselves to evaluate space this way, and eventually we no longer have to ask the questions. Soon we come to learn that we never chose the space in the first place.

I tell my students that the line and the circle are the same, the circle being obvious in its structure. The line is a mystery, since the curvature of the earth can alter its path. It has no beginning or end, but the segment we see holds the key to unlock its potential.

Keith M. Cowley is an author, educator, wild forager and non-martial artist in Southeastern Connecticut/Rhode Island. He is the Founder of Personal Circle Center for Awareness and Embodiment Clinic, and New-Native Foundation.

Announcing the first “Heal Local Holiday Fair”, brought to you by East Meets Westerly, on Shop Local Saturday (November 30th, 2013)!

I am excited to announce this new event in downtown Westerly, sponsored and housed by Northeast Family Martial Arts and Precision Fitness! Hosted once again by Personal Circle Center for Awareness & Embodiment Clinic, I continue to aim to bring together our health & wellness professionals showing the town of Westerly what we have to offer collectively. This is a non-competitive event, and unlike the spring exhibition event, participants will be able to be vendors. Exhibitions, free healing arts demonstrations, music, food and fun!

Announcing the first “Heal Local Holiday Fair”, brought to you by East Meets Westerly, on Shop Local Saturday (November 30th, 2013)!

I am excited to announce this new event in downtown Westerly, sponsored and housed by Northeast Family Martial Arts and Precision Fitness! Hosted once again by Personal Circle Center for Awareness & Embodiment Clinic, I continue to aim to bring together our health & wellness professionals showing the town of Westerly what we have to offer collectively. This is a non-competitive event, and unlike the spring exhibition event, participants will be able to be vendors. Exhibitions, free healing arts demonstrations, music, food and fun!